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Exciting Developments In Drone Technology

September 5, 2016 – To kick off the Rocky Mountain AIAA 2016 season, Black Swift Technologies (BST) will present an overview of their UAV systems and services on Thursday, September 15. The presentation will be held in Boulder, Colorado.

BST is an engineering firm specializing in the development of next generation small unmanned aircraft platforms and technologies, uniquely coupling avionics expertise with consulting services. BST produces its own line of customizable autopilots, ground stations, and support systems that enable customers to fly and coordinate UAS with greater precision and simplicity. Concurrently, BST offers consulting services for customers attempting to navigate the ever-dynamic and often confusing application process for legal access to U.S. airspace.

The Black Swift team represents over 30 years of collective sUAS systems experience including hundreds of deployments using many different systems. They’ve worked on many different applications of the technology over the years. Areas covered include cooperative multi-aircraft self-healing networks; atmospheric science and glacial ice surveys in the arctic, tornado chasing; soil moisture mapping; and others.

Dr. Jack Elston will highlight these experiences, and show how experiences in the field have led to the development of Black Swift Technologies industry leading systems. Dr. Elston has over thirteen years of experience working in the UAS field, and is the CEO/President and co-founder of Black Swift Technologies (BST). Dr. Elston is also the technical lead on all avionics work at BST including the creation of a low cost, highly capable autopilot system along with unique networking technologies to enable cooperative control of UAS.

Dr. Elston received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2011 developing a system and algorithms for sUAS sampling of tornadic supercell thunderstorms. This work culminated in the design of a sUAS used to conduct the first ever intercept of a tornadic supercell thunderstorm by an unmanned aircraft as part of the NSF and NOAA funded VORTEX2 project. His research demonstrated the utility of integrating payloads into sUAS to conduct meaningful scientific research.

Dr. Elston’s other work at the University of Colorado involved the development of four different unmanned aircraft systems at the Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles along with conducting over 300 flight experiments. He also co-authored over 70 applications for certificates of authorization allowing for legal operation of UAS within the national airspace.

The presentation is free and open to the public. You do not have to be a member of Rocky Mountain AIAA, but U.S. citizenship is required. Register by Tuesday, September 13, for access.